Sponge-Hosting Polyaniline Array Microstructures for Piezoresistive Sensors with a Wide Detection Range and High...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Science
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Highly elastic spongy conductors are desirable for piezoresistive sensors due to cost-effectiveness and ease of fabrication.
• Achieving both high sensitivity and a broad sensing range in a single piezoresistive sensor is a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate a highly elastic spongy conductor with unique microstructures for enhanced piezoresistive sensing.
• To investigate the sensor's performance in terms of elasticity, sensitivity, and sensing range.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of sponge-hosting polyaniline (PANI) fluff-like array microstructures via cryopolymerization.
• Characterization of the conductor's mechanical properties (elasticity, stress, strain).
• Evaluation of the piezoresistive sensor's sensitivity and pressure response range.

Main Results:

• The fabricated spongy conductors demonstrated excellent elasticity up to 80% strain and 101 kPa stress.
• The sensors achieved high sensitivity (0.54 kPa⁻¹) across a broad pressure range (0.1–101 kPa).
• The graded conductive network within the fluff-like PANI arrays was responsible for the dual performance.

Conclusions:

• This work presents a novel approach to creating highly elastic, sensitive, and wide-range wearable piezoresistive sensors.
• The tailored fabrication of sponge-hosting conducting polymers with tunable microstructures opens new avenues for advanced sensor development.
• The developed sensors show promise for tactile sensing and human-motion monitoring applications.